SEVEN men are facing charges in relation to a string of bank robberies across southern England over the past two years, police said today.

The men, all from the London area, had been accused of offences dating back to November 2005.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said charges related to crimes in Oxford, Swindon, Reading, Ipswich, Suffolk; Coulsdon, Surrey; Bristol; Gloucester; Cherry Hinton, Cambs; Bath, Avon; Colchester, Essex; and Winchester, Hants.